• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Overview
    • Our History
    • Our Values and Vision
    • LGBTQ Inclusive
    • Our Board
    • Our Sacred Objects
    • About Reconstructionist Judaism
    • Jewish Ann Arbor
  • What We Do
    • Shabbat and Holidays
    • Learning
    • B’nei Mitzvah
    • Tikkun Olam
    • Join our Mailing List
    • In the (Washtenaw Jewish) News
  • Religious School
    • Beit Sefer (Religious School) Overview
    • Beit Sefer Staff
    • Enroll your child in Beit Sefer
  • Blog
  • Membership
    • Overview
    • Renew your membership
    • Thinking about joining?
    • Member Area
      • Overview
      • Get involved!
  • Calendar
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
You are here: Home / Sacred Objects / AARC’s Megillah Ark

AARC’s Megillah Ark

April 4, 2019 by Gillian Jackson

The Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation is proud to present one of our hand-crafted sacred objects, a Megillah Ark created by Alan Haber, with components crafted by Idelle Hammond-Sass. The Ark is a beautiful piece of artistry specifically designed to shelter a hand-illustrated scroll of the Book of Esther or Megillat Esther. For more on the Scroll of Esther acquired in 2016, see Barbara Boyk Rust’s blog post. Please enjoy this description of the symbolic elements of Ark in the artist’s own words:

I made it like a city within which to live and be safe, with 6 walls to hold the story. Each of the wall boards has two tenons like the boards of the tabernacle. In the front are the city gates, Boaz and Joachim. In the back is a dark post, ready also to serve as gallows. The wall boards on each side of the gate have the smile of Vashti, in the grain, through which the story unrolls.

The story scroll is held tied between 2 pieces of rosewood attached to a piece of white holly wood, which serves as the handle to draw the story out between the city gates, though the smile of Vashti. The gate is closed, with the story inside, and latched  by a piece of ebony wood, tied with a blue thread. When the gate is unlatched, the ebony latch bolt is inserted and held at the top of the gallows post and the blue thread serves as the rope and noose. The crown of Esther is on top of the central post holding the scroll, and is turned to unroll the story, and turned back to re-roll. Mordecai sits at the base of the city gate and aligns Esther when the story is returned to within the city and the latch retied. The city walls and earth below and roof above are all of cherry wood … surely a favorite of Esther, without ointments and oils.

– Alan Haber, 2019

According to Idelle Hammond-Sass, the scroll was designed by an Israeli woman artist she saw at the Janice Charach Epstein Gallery. Says Idelle:

Barbara Boyk-Rust and I purchased it, hoping to have a housing created for it. It is color-offset, richly decorated and signed.
We arranged to collaborate with Alan and I made a brass Crown etched with the Hebrew for Megillat Esther, which fits the fulcrum of the turning for the scroll. It has designs pulled from the scroll itself. Barbara and I also visited the Megillah container Alan made for Beth Israel and helped to fund the project.

Idelle Hammond-Sass, 2019

Share this post

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Sacred Objects, Simchas Tagged With: Purim, Sacred Objects, scroll of esther

Primary Sidebar

Join Our Mailing List

Sign up for our twice a week newsletter to get details on upcoming events and catch up on our latest news.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Follow AARC

  • facebook
  • youtube

Upcoming Events

  • 10:30 am – 12:00 pm, February 11, 2023 – Second Saturday Shabbat Morning Service
  • 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, February 24, 2023 – Fourth Friday Kabbalat Shabbat Service
  • 10:30 am – 12:00 pm, March 11, 2023 – Second Saturday Shabbat Morning Service
  • 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, March 24, 2023 – Fourth Friday Kabbalat Shabbat Service
  • 10:30 am – 12:00 pm, April 8, 2023 – Second Saturday Shabbat Morning Service

Latest News

  • AARC as Ecosystem in Feb. 2023 WJN February 1, 2023
  • The Golem January 30, 2023
  • Mollie Meadow’s Dvar Torah: Shmot January 18, 2023
  • Isaac Meadow’s Dvar Torah: Shmot January 18, 2023
  • Reconstructing Judaism Movement Votes to Support Reparations to BIPOC Communities That Suffered Due To American Colonization January 12, 2023

Search

Tags

Adult Learning Bar mitzvah bat mitzvah Beit Sefer book club Challah community community learning covid-19 Elul food/land/justice Hanukkah high-holidays-2020 High Holidays High Holidays 2021 High Holidays 2022 Human rights immigrants interfaith jewish learning Michael Strassfeld Mimouna mitzvah new members Omer Passover Psalm 27 Psalms Purim Rabbi Alana Rabbi Debra Rappaport Rabbi Ora recipes Reconstructionism refugees Rosh Hashanah Shavuot Shmita Sukkot Sukkot Retreat Tikkun Olam Torah tu b'shevat Washtenaw Jewish News Yom Kippur

Categories

  • Articles/Ads
  • Beit Sefer (Religious School)
  • Books
  • Community Learning
  • Divrei Torah
  • Event writeups
  • Food
  • Mail Bag
  • Member Profiles
  • Poems and Blessings
  • Posts by Members
  • Rabbi's Posts
  • Reconstructionist Movement
  • Sacred Objects
  • Simchas
  • Tikkun Olam
  • Uncategorized
  • Upcoming Activities

Footer

Affiliated with

Register/Login

  • Log in
  • Register (for members only)

Copyright © 2023 Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation